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MEDITATION:

Written by Tish Harrison Warren, a contemporary Anglican priest and author. This is an excerpt from her book “liturgy of the ordinary.”

This morning I wake (slowly) on an ordinary day, a cool morning. I do not know what lies ahead, but I wake in a bed I know, a house I live in, a routine, a particular life. The psalmist declares, “This is the day the Lord has made.” This one. We wake not to a vague or general mercy from a far-off God. God, in delight and wisdom, has made, named, and blessed this average day. What I in my weakness see as another monotonous day in a string of days, God has given as a singular gift.  When Jesus died for his people, he knew me by name in the particularity of this day. Christ didn’t redeem my life theoretically or abstractly—the life I dreamed of living or the life I think I ideally should be living. He knew I’d be in today as it is, in my home where it stands, in my relationships with their specific beauty and brokenness, in my particular sins and struggles…We tend to want a Christian life with the dull bits cut out. Yet God made us to spend our days in rest, work, and play, taking care of our bodies, our families, our neighborhoods, our homes. What if all these boring parts matter to God? What if days passed in ways that feel small and insignificant to us are weighty with meaning and part of the abundant life that God has for us?

PRAYER:

Written by Emilie Griffin, a contemporary American author who writes about religious experience and spiritual life.

Dear Lord, make yourself known to me, as you did to your followers, in the middle of ordinary life. I want to believe I can be changed through closeness to you, and to the community surrounding me. Protect me from sin and evil by the power of your grace. Amen.